The French press has criticised the American team which is heading into the FIFA Women’s World Cup for association football (soccer) for being “mostly composed of white players”.
Le Monde, a left-leaning daily and of France’s newspapers of record, published an article by Stéphanie Le Bars lamenting the fact that a soccer team which has “become in the United States the symbol of the defence of sexual minorities and the equality of rights between men and women” is insufficiently diverse.
The writer claims that, while the number of players who are “African-American or Métis… in proportion seems high”, in fact the “overwhelming majority of regular attendees are white players”, and appeared to suggest that this was inherently problematic.
Migration-Background Youths Show Up at French School to ‘Beat Whites’ https://t.co/LCPlJGzvMU
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) July 4, 2019
Praise is offered to “Homosexual star Megan Rapinoe” for her statement that “You can not win without the gays on your team”, and for the U.S. Women’s team’s Equal Opportunity Employment Commission case against the United States Soccer Federation which employs them, demanding “equal” pay on par with male players.
The article also alludes to the women’s team’s frosty attitude towards U.S. President Donald Trump, with Rapinoe having previously asserted that she was “not going to the f*cking White House” if her team won the Women’s World Cup, and that she did not believe they would be invited anyway.
When President Trump attempted to extend the hand of conciliation by saying the team would be welcome at the White House win or lose, the players appeared to double down, with defender Ali Kreiger sniping: “In regards to the ‘President’s’ tweet today, I know women who you cannot control or grope anger you, but I stand by [Rapinoe] & will sit this one out as well. I don’t support this administration nor their fight against LGBTQ+ citizens, immigrants & our most vulnerable.”
….invited Megan or the team, but I am now inviting the TEAM, win or lose. Megan should never disrespect our Country, the White House, or our Flag, especially since so much has been done for her & the team. Be proud of the Flag that you wear. The USA is doing GREAT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 26, 2019
Nevertheless, the team’s anti-Trump, social justice credentials were not enough to save them from accusations of an “astonishing” lack of ethnic diversity.
France’s men’s team, which won the last men’s World Cup, is also unrepresentative of the country’s demographics — but in a way deemed praiseworthy by left-liberal commentators and much of the mainstream press, with white French accounting for only a minority of players.
American staple sports, too, such as American football and basketball, also suffer from racial underrepresentation, with black players taking up a large majority of the roster despite accounting for only a small share of the population — but again, this is seldom cause for complaint, with the media’s ire being reserved for alleged overrepresentation of white people among head coaches and team owners instead.
Khan: Trump Is 'Poster Boy for Racists', 'Defended White Supremacists at Charlottesville' https://t.co/ZGTeKImCSt
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) June 20, 2019
Story cited here.
